Zuckerberg Unveils New Facebook Profile On “60 Minutes”

In his first on-camera interview since the release of The Social Network in October, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg not only weighed in on the Hollywood version of his life, but also revealed the new look of your Facebook profile.

Though the announcement was posted Sunday afternoon on the company blog, Zuckerberg used his 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl as a nationwide preview to the new changes, the first major profile redesign since 2008, when the site added tabbed sections.

The new design gives hierarchy to personal information and photos, as a short overview of users’ profiles is now featured prominently at the top of each page. The tabs have moved to the left of the site, under the profile picture, which remains unaffected in the change, though it looks like photos are a prime concern of the redesign. (A new “infinite scroll” element should make photos easier and faster to view.) Highlighted information is basic: current city, hometown, relationship status and education info, while a queue of recently tagged photos scrolls just below.

But not all of the change is simple reshuffling. A new “Featured Friends” option allows users to “highlight the friends who are important to you, such as your family, best friends or teammates,” Facebook engineer Josh Wiseman wrote in the company’s announcement. “Create new groups of friends, or feature existing friends lists.” Another tool will ask users to go beyond generalizations with an option to list specific college courses, work projects or sports teams as interests or activities.

Though redesigns to the site are usually publicly hated, provoking users to demand the change be undone, Facebook’s pioneer initiative makes sweeping changes, like this latest redesign, inevitable. For more on the change, visit Facebook.com/about/profile and check back with Techland later for a full review of the new features.